printThis is a note to an Afrikaner brother, “a farm attack victim, whose wife, friends and many acquaintances” have been murdered. Understandably, he does not think the work done by ex-pats like this writer in his cause is significant. I would venture that this is a perception fed by the fact that this work—book, extensive Articles Archive, ongoing, current Blog coverage, other media, when given the opportunity—is not easily accessible in “free” South Africa, a fact that accounts for why he cannot see the good it does beyond his country. (Example: “Mandela Mum About Systematic Murder Of Whites”)
So, to Ignatius Beyers I say this: Your world is in South Africa (SA). You judge the good of other work by the measure of how many members of your community know about it. But South Africa is a tiny speck on the world stage—and it has become even tinier and more insignificant on that indifferent stage since “freedom.” However, whether you know it or not, activism within SA matters very little to the world. I know it, for I’ve tried to spread the word in an indifferent world. That’s why I wrote “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa.”
Whether you and your community know it or not, the book is being used in litigating the cases of South African refugees across the globe (I hear from their lawyers) and is serving and will serve as a lasting, enduring testament to the history, heritage and patrimony of the Afrikaners.
Afrikaners need SYSTEMATIC THINKERS outside SA to make a cogent case for their rights of self-determinism. This “The Cannibal” does in spades. So while you do not think I do much good because it’s hard to get my work in SA—Amazon doesn’t even sell books in that country; and Amazon, sadly, is more powerful than local Boer activists—we are at the forefront of the struggle on the global stage.
More significantly, “The Cannibal” dismantles the intellectually impoverished accusations of racism-as-raison d’être levied at the Boers; accusations that are deployed to dehumanize Afrikaners to the world. As you know, dehumanization is a means to delegitimize a people’s cause and plight. So do not discount the enduring, intellectual work done in “The Cannibal” to counter such garbage.
If anything, oddball statements made by local South African activists often further alienate that community from the world. I love the activists Mr. Beyers mentioned, but to outsiders who do not apprecaite the culture; their words often come out wrong, if you know what I mean. Thus, it often falls to quieter thinkers like myself to finesses inartful, inadvertently harmful expression. This I did in decrying “The Onslaught Against Steve Hofmeyr.”
While on the topic of delegitimzation (a stage in ethnoocide), Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, may not be a rowdy activist in South Africa, but his work is immensely important in garnering international attention for the Boer community. He and I both spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about farm murders.
Raising hell in SA may seem important to people living in the country—and it is mighty important. Unfortunately, what counts in the pinko world is dismantling the libel against the Boers, which is what I’ve done.
Therefore, the people to whom “The Cannibal” is dedicated (to quote: “To my Afrikaner brothers betrayed”) should not discount the enduring testimony “The Cannibal” serves, and the systematic analytical framework it presents of the South African quagmire, down to a history of the Boers and the morality of secession. It is making your case for you where it matters: to an indifferent world community.
You and the under siege-Afrikaner community should flood your local bookstores across South Africa with requests and orders for the new book by Dutch MP Martin Bosma, if indeed it is as promising as Adriana Stuijt’s Censorbugbear claims, for “Into The Cannibal’s Pot” (bookstores can contact its courageous publisher), for the great Dan Roodt’s books, and the output of the aforementioned documentarian Adriana Stuijt, cited in “The Cannibal.” (It is my hope that Ms. Stuijt will produce a periodic publication, for sale on Amazon. A series of these things on Amazon, the largest bookstore in the world, would do wonders.) It’s all about the miraculous division of labor.
On a personal note: Ignatius Beyers, however painful, please email me your story in private (ilana@ilanamercer.com), and I will incorporate it into a WND column. While the libertarian community has been almost as indifferent (and certainly ignorant, as highlighted in “Apartheid South Africa: Reality Vs. Libertarian Fantasy”) as the rest; our good friends in Germany (see: Klein-Amerika an der Spitze Afrikas) may translate it.
Remember: Some work is seen by you and the Afrikaner community because it occurs in your neck of the woods; other work is unseen by you, but is as important.
UPDATE: To Americans who think South Africans are able to simply up and leave: Most people in the US have never lived outside this country. They take for granted EVERYTHING. They don’t get how hard it is to get permission to immigrate legally into the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia. And they don’t get that anything is better than Africa, South America and East Europe, included. These are lower-crime options, where a family doesn’t have to fear daily death. I am kinda tired of addressing these typically insular and cloistered attitudes.